Ashley Wood 3A Stuff

I think alot of the haters are probably relatively recent Gundam fans who don't appreciate the Gundam hobby's roots in 80's hobby magazines like Model Graphix and Hobby Japan. Ashley Woods' Zaku seems to pretty clearly be channeling the spirit of Kazuhisa Kondo or Makoto Kobayashi, though not necessarily in a good way. However, the visual departure from Okawara's original design is definitely not unprecedented. I don't like the ThreeA Zaku and have no intention of buying it and there's plenty of god awful Kondo and Kobayashi kitbashes but the creativity and inventiveness from those old magazine spreads was always a treat.

That, and the guy gets "you raped my childhood" levels of worked up over a mecha that was literally designed to get blowded-up every episode. So hilariously misplaced, it borders upon satire. Doesn't he know Zeong lost the war?

I think it's clear from Ashley's own Zaku mural he did previously and his World War Robot art that he does "get" it quite well, despite what the now removed post says, which means the changes are quite deliberate as one would expect.

I mostly dig the reinterpretation/reinvention in an oldschool Makoto Kobayashi and SF3D Hobby Japan way of looking at it (as mentioned earlier...and maybe a teeny bit of oldschool Masamune Shirow's Appleseed days before he got all CG on his bots...), although I think it is odd that he chose to change the most iconic, distinctive feature of the original Zaku--that is, the mono-eye, that feature which both gives the Zaku an convincing "machine other" quality to its appearance evocative of both the Cyclops of ancient myth and the Cylons of modern myth. I can only guess his thinking was how to evoke the sense of a Zaku while somehow eliminating this defining characteristic. I think he mostly succeeds.

I'm both quite excited and nervous to know that 3A has the 2012 Microman license.

microbry Wrote:
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> I can only guess his
> thinking was how to evoke the sense of a Zaku
> while somehow eliminating this defining
> characteristic. I think he mostly succeeds.

See? That's the beauty of the internet: we can always agree to disagree! ;)

That thing's fucking terrible.

I'm not talking about how my childhood was raped like the dude in that silly review. I'm talking about a crummy robot toy design. I actually agree with what Scopedog said: the thing I like most about Wood's WWR designs is their gritty "realistic" weathered appearance, which complements the simple geometry of the sculpts in this fascinating way. And that totally jives with the aesthetic sense in my brain that loves those wild Hobby Japan spreads of wildly customized Gundam kits.

But this thing? Yeesh. Just doesn't look good. Nor does it emulate the key visual characteristics of a Zaku. I have NO problem whatsoever with reimaginings of established designs. Hell, I even had one of those Fewture 1969 Mazinger gokins! But reimaginings of iconic stuff really ought to play on the iconic characteristics of those designs, right? Or at the very fucking least, look cool on its own. This accomplished neither.

Scopedog Wrote:
> I think alot of the haters are probably relatively
> recent Gundam fans who don't appreciate the Gundam
> hobby's roots in 80's hobby magazines like Model
> Graphix and Hobby Japan. Ashley Woods' Zaku seems
> to pretty clearly be channeling the spirit of
> Kazuhisa Kondo or Makoto Kobayashi, though not
> necessarily in a good way. However, the visual
> departure from Okawara's original design is
> definitely not unprecedented. I don't like the
> ThreeA Zaku and have no intention of buying it and
> there's plenty of god awful Kondo and Kobayashi
> kitbashes but the creativity and inventiveness
> from those old magazine spreads was always a
> treat.

This was pretty much exactly my reaction. I wouldn't buy Wood's Zaku, but it appears to clearly be a respectful homage to Kobayashi's classic kitbashes, and I think it works on that level.

The real problem with the (now-deleted) post is that it claims that Wood had no intention of producing a respectful Zaku redesign, and that he basically made this as a fuck-you to Bandai after securing whatever deal allowed him to produce a Zaku. That seems absolutely ridiculous to me - particularly in light of Wood's other work, like what Microbry and Sanjeev are saying.

If you look at any of the 2d art Wood has done of licensed properties (except his rushed, messy Metal Gear comic books) then it's clear he takes care with his design decisions, and doesn't just toss them off arbitrarily. I think this Astroboy illustration is a perfect example - the dividing line between precision and vagueness, between fidelity to the classic style and Wood's personal aesthetics, it's all right there on the page. If he steps way over these dividing lines with his Zaku, then it's clearly on purpose.

Sanjeev Wrote:
>
> Nor does it emulate the key visual characteristics
> of a Zaku.

Wha, really? The tubes, the shoulders, even the contour of the leg, with the bulge at mid-calf and the slightly flared ankle. The gas mask face is a little off-putting (though it's mech'ed out enough that I can accept it as a robot head) and the feet appear to be kitbashed from some other 3A design (they're the one thing I think should be closer to a Zaku part). On the whole, though, I think it looks as much like a Zaku as, say, the Marasai does, or other various monoeye-suit successors. Would it be different if it was "Ashley Wood's original Zeon mobile suit"?

Well...when I say "emulate", I'm suggesting more than just the presence of some sort of analog to the original characteristics. Not just some copy either. The original characteristics flowed in a particular way that gave the original design a particular flavor. In the Zaku's case, it was a goofy, throw-away bad guy aesthetic. So when I say "emulate", I want to see the spirit of the original characteristic preserved in some way, y'know? Not that the 3A version (or any other modern interpretation someone wants to come up with) HAS to be a goofy disposable mecha, but I just feel that the *style* of the tubes, the shoulders, and the head are just off...even if there are clear similarities to the original.

I dunno...that's just my take on it. Your mileage may vary...and obviously, if someone digs this, that's a good thing!

To me the 3A zaku seems unnecessary. I mean how many zakus can I possibly get. Both weird garage versions straight on up to canonical Bandai releases; the choices are multitude. Heck a quick search on HLJ just returned 140 different zaku toys and models. Do I like the way it looks, nope. Unfortunately there are many that will buy him simply because it is from 3A. Oh well...I'd rather the company stick to their own lines. Those I like. This not so much...On a side note seeing this zaku doesn't give me much hope for the MaK line they are working on...

Let me say this to start: I am not a man who gets mad about toys. I’m cool with toys. There might be some toys I don’t like, but I don’t get mad with them. There might be toys that I can’t do right for some reason, but I’m not mad at the toy. I’m mad as hell here, though, and it’s not because of the toy. It’s because of a man, and what he’s done to a legacy.

Lots of pictures and lots of text. I’m tagging this because I want both Gundam fans and 3A fans to see it. Gundam fans, something you probably like is practically desecrated here. 3A fans, this post consists of shitting on the man you treat like a god, with a whole paragraph devoted to what amounts to a conspiracy theory about him. People who have no idea what I’m talking about here, whatever. You’ll probably find these pictures really fucking awesome. While they almost are, don’t tell me. I’ll just get even more depressed.

You probably have no idea what that is supposed to be. It’s Ashley Wood’s take on the Zaku II from Mobile Suit Gundam.

As you might be able to tell, it’s a tad different, and that’s one thing that gets me mad. I’ll admit that I haven’t been following this much, but what I’d heard boiled down to “a Zaku in 3A style.” I seem to remember a gritty-looking drawing or two of a Zaku, and I got excited. This is not that. I was about to call it a robot with some Zaku influence, but I would barely call it that. These are the Zaku details that I have found:

• a gas mask-styled face
• cables
• the chest
• the general shape of the legs and lower arms
• the circular caps on the elbows (that are spread throughout for some reason)
• the shoulders
• the heat hawk

This is not the color of a Zaku. Splotches of olive green do not equal green. And don’t say it’s the White Ogre, I read the 3A forums. Neither Wood nor the other guys knew a thing about Gundam. They were confused when people asked for it in green or red. I’m starting to wonder if they actually talked to Bandai.

This is not a Zaku’s head. If you show this to a Gundam fan they’d have no idea. Even the biggest Gundam fan would probably think it’s just a take on the Den’an Zon.

And yes, it makes me mad. I’ve never cared for this Ashley Wood guy, but I never hated him. This, though, this shows that he flat-out doesn’t care for anything but himself, his works, and the money he makes. There have been plenty of collaborations before, and they tend not to take steaming shits all over the other guy, especially not when the other guy is the bigger guy. Hell, just look at the other 3A collabs.

This is 3A’s Metal Gear Rex. It’s just a prototype, no idea what the final colors will be, but you’ll notice that it actually looks like the Rex. Even if he personally drowns each one in a can of paint it’ll still look like a Rex.

Here’s his take on Mongrol from ABC Warriors.

And here’s the real deal. I’ll admit that I don’t exactly know this guy by heart, but it looks pretty close to me.

And 3A’s Tharg. It looks pretty good, and if Tharg is meant to be black (remember, old comics used dark blue for black) then it’s perfect.

So, why is the Zaku like that?

It just doesn’t make any sense to me. All these other collaborations have been 3A-style versions of the originals. They rough things up a bit, they weather it all to hell, but they don’t fuck with the original design. This Zaku, though… It really just pains me to look at it. Though I dislike this guy’s ways and his following, I don’t hate a weathered paintjob. Hell, it’d look pretty cool on a Zaku. But this, this just isn’t a Zaku. It looks nothing like any Mobile Suit I’ve ever seen, it looks more like one of his usual designs.

That’s what gets me the most, here: he didn’t give a shit about the Zaku. They handed him a bunch of other designs, and the results were faithful to the originals. Bandai handed him the Zaku, and he crapped this out. It doesn’t even look like he glanced at a picture of a Zaku. When the fans asked him about the size and the scale, he said he forgot, then mentioned that it was the size of “that big pink one you can buy now.” Someone pieced together that he meant the 1/48 scale Char’s Custom Zaku model. When people asked for this thing in green, red, and blue, one of his top guys flat-out admitted that he had no idea what they were talking about. Wood disappeared soon after, and even though they were quick to reply to all the dick-sucking they got, no one bothered when someone asked about a commander antenna for a red redeco or why there’s only two weapons. Then again, considering the usual 3A way, I guess they just weren’t used to actually altering their designs. They make a robot that looks like a coke can with limbs, then make it in twelve different colors, then later they do it at a smaller scale. Then they repeat the process with coke cans with bigger arms, coke cans with different pouches, dildos, dildos with different pouches, dildos with new arms, and even fucking boxes, which they’ve cleverly dubbed “Squares.” Perhaps they just can’t deal with actually modifying something. Even if we see this in different colors, it won’t be MS-06F, MS-06J, MS-06S, or a Gouf, because they probably have no idea that they exist.

This is only barely related, but I’m hating his fans, too. I’d always questioned them on /toy/, seeing as how many buy every single one of his toys, some of which cost more than $100, and have no complaints. They’re better than the guys on the official boards, but not by much. Those people on the forum, though, god damn. Out of maybe ten pages I only saw two people that didn’t like the Zaku. The rest fucking loved it. The thing is, they weren’t just 3A fans, they called themselves Gundam fans. They were just loading heaps of praise on the Zaku, and they were begging for their favorite MS to be the next one… I shudder at the thought of this bastard touching Gundam again, and these guys are pleading for it to happen.

One thing that really gets me, though, is that (presumably) Bandai ok’d this. Someone at Bandai looked at it and said “Yeah, looks like a Zaku to me.” I really thought that they’d have some love for their own shit there. I’ve heard stuff about Hideo Kojima and how anal he is with stuff, but look at what that got him. Even if he had to hound these guys to make sure they didn’t give the Metal Gear a gun made out of scrap or a retarded logo, he got a perfect Metal Gear out of it. Whatever Bandai did, we got a Zaku that looks nothing like a Zaku.

That brings me to something else. This is just a presumption of mine, but it’s making me hate 3A even more. Besides Bandai and Kojima, the other collaborators aren’t very mainstream anywhere. Kenny Wong is a Hong Kong artist, while Jeremy Geddes is an Australian artist. Coarsetoys is a twofer, German and an urban vinyl creator. Todd McFarlane is the biggest guy here, but even then he’s only known for Spawn and McFarlane Toys. To put things bluntly, they’re indie. I just can’t help but think like this: Ashley Wood doesn’t give a shit if you’re not a fellow hipster. The other groups are artists, practically underground. The two artists will apparently be designing their own works as figures; 3A’s input will be making the actual figures (though Wood is making a female pilot for one, since he has to get his same-faced human figures everywhere). He’s helping his fellow artists put out their own figures. The one picture of the urban vinyl toys I’ve seen looks like his designs in an urban vinyl cutesified style, like a fusion of the two; a real collaboration. The guys at 2000 AD gave him designs for two of their characters and said “Alright, make 3A-styled figures of these two,” and that’s what they did. Ashley Wood didn’t let loose and cover Mongrol with fucking pouches or give Tharg the shitty same-face every other human figure he makes has, he made faithful toys of the characters. That’s what he should have done with the Zaku. Hell, he could even change it up a bit. Give it bigger arms, or change the bazooka to some ridiculous huge block, or give it two nozzle-looking thrusters where the usual ones are. That’s not what he did, though. Here’s my simplified idea of how things went down. When Ashley and the artists got together, he said “Let me help you make your own toys.” When he got together with the urban vinyl makers, he said “Let’s make toys together.” When he got with the comic guys, he said “Let me make your toys.” And they all knew the “And I’ll toss my style in there and my signature on it,” but they didn’t mind, because they were getting what they wanted. Whatever he said to Bandai, that… thing happened, and if things really happened like this, then that means either Bandai was okay with it, or Ashley Wood didn’t care what they thought. And the worst thing is, it fits. Wood is ingratiating himself with artist communities once again, he’s spreading into the urban vinyl market (his toys are vinyl, but they’re also action figures, not tiny hunks of uselessness), he’s showing indie comic guys that he’s open to them, and he’s making himself more known through Kojima and McFarlane. All that will make him money and help him spread towards the west. He puts work into their stuff to show that he cares. He doesn’t need to care about Bandai; his original stuff has penetrated into Japan’s collectors enough already, and by going with the biggest company he’s shown that he doesn’t need to bother with anyone smaller. He already got the name Bandai associated with him, and he got the go-ahead to make something with their name on it, a.k.a. a license to print money. He’s set! He doesn’t need to be faithful to their designs, he just needs to sell shit with his name attached to it to idiots. So, to put it simply, Wood took a huge steaming shit on the Zaku’s design because he only needed the association with Bandai. That’s what I’m getting from this, at least.

Really, even if you ignore all my indie bastard conspiracy theories, the fact stands that Ashley Wood poured tons of work into every collaboration but Bandai’s, and that he utterly failed to create a Zaku. This is no Zaku, my boy, no Zaku.

Scopedog: Dude breathe it is just a toy...yeah its ugly but in all reality I don't think any disrespect was intended. If I remember correctly the toy is based on a painting that he did and the bandai folks liked it...At any rate...

Actually, fel, Scope was just reposting the original linked review (that's now been taken down).

I didn't bother reading the wall of text at the bottom the first time around (and I'm not inclined to do so now either), but upon a quick scan, I caught "Ashley Wood doesn’t give a shit if you’re not a fellow hipster" in bold...and I LOLed!

Sanjeev Wrote:
> In the Zaku's case, it was a goofy, throw-away bad
> guy aesthetic. So when I say "emulate", I want to see
> the spirit of the original characteristic preserved
> in some way, y'know? Not that the 3A version (or any
> other modern interpretation someone wants to come up
> with) HAS to be a goofy disposable mecha,

Ah, ok. Yeah, that's a very specific thing, and I think most redesigns of (or successors to) the Zaku don't even attempt that. The strain of development in Gundam has been to make everything a little grittier, more technical, more tacticool with every incarnation.

fel9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Scopedog: Dude breathe it is just a toy...yeah its
> ugly but in all reality I don't think any
> disrespect was intended. If I remember correctly
> the toy is based on a painting that he did and the
> bandai folks liked it...At any rate...

I posted the article we are discussing that has since been deleted by the author. I like most of Ashley Wood's paintings, including the Zaku one. I think most of his toys from his own properties look awful although the artwork they are based on is usually nice. On the other hand his licensed properties look fantastic. The execution of the Zaku toy is awful. However, its no worse or heretical than any other bad, ambitious kitbash from the 80's. It could have been great but it just didn't turn out that way. I look forward to Ashley Wood giving some other Gundam designs a go (though I'll probably never buy any).

I should have clarified when I said "mostly"...there's still plenty left that is a deal breaker for me too--I would say it is about 60/40 positive/negative for me. But I get what he was trying to do and can appreciate it in the way I described, if I look at it that way. But it's not something I'd really want on my shelf, not that I really collect much Gundam stuff anyway.

I do hope they do good shit with Microman next year, though I am skeptical I'll be able to afford it if they do.

I have to say that their ABC Warrior Mongrol is one of the greatest toy surprises that I've stumbled upon in years. It's absolutely massive, has lots of articulation, spring-loaded panels and virtually no PVC or vinyl.

I have no shits available for dispensing upon the topic of Ashley Woods' Hipster-Dicked Zaku-Irrumatio. Because, frankly, the bulk of the Gundam universe is so utterly, painfully derivative, and equally expansive, to begin with that the above is really a non-issue. All I thought was, "Another Zaku? Why bother?"

And the final product does little to dissuade that opinion. It's not a really attractive artistic stamp because it commits the most heinous offense of all art: being bland and inoffensive.

So I took it upon myself to fix that. Low and behold, it turned out I killed a dozen vultures with one brush. Not only does this make it more sinisterly interesting, it also makes it massively more iconic. Check it:

Scopedog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> fel9 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Scopedog: Dude breathe it is just a toy...yeah
> its
> > ugly but in all reality I don't think any
> > disrespect was intended. If I remember
> correctly
> > the toy is based on a painting that he did and
> the
> > bandai folks liked it...At any rate...
>
> I posted the article we are discussing that has
> since been deleted by the author. I like most of
> Ashley Wood's paintings, including the Zaku one.
> I think most of his toys from his own properties
> look awful although the artwork they are based on
> is usually nice. On the other hand his licensed
> properties look fantastic. The execution of the
> Zaku toy is awful. However, its no worse or
> heretical than any other bad, ambitious kitbash
> from the 80's. It could have been great but it
> just didn't turn out that way. I look forward to
> Ashley Wood giving some other Gundam designs a go
> (though I'll probably never buy any).

Sorry dude...that's what I get for not following along as closely as I should....just take those comments and redirect to the right ranter...carry on...

Scopedog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That reminds me- those hoses look like the
> flexible part of bendy straws. Like EXACTLY like
> the flexible part of bendy straws. Its uncanny.

I was thinking dryer hoses, but same difference.

I think people should re-pipe their cars so all the guts are on the outside. It equals more awesome. Which reminds me, at what point did the external piping become a tacticool trope? Can we blame the power loader from Aliens for that one?

Gcrush Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So I took it upon myself to fix that. Low and
> behold, it turned out I killed a dozen vultures
> with one brush. Not only does this make it more
> sinisterly interesting, it also makes it massively
> more iconic...

And just like that, the design has been improved by about 1000 times. Still not worth buying (for me), but that's what I'm talking about by "emulation" (still shocked by the lack of Macross II jokes here): an iconic characteristic of the original design that's been tweaked slightly to fit the new aesthetic in a more appropriate way.

And, hey, don't blame the power loader: remember, that thing was designed for construction, not combat.

I remember reading that Mikimoto hated Macross II. They commissioned a single character design from him for it and then proceeded to do their own characters for everything else, even for stuff he "should have" done (not sure how that differs from Megazone 23, other than Mikimoto had more a personal investment in Macross...oh and his recent Macross the First manga has been pretty ace so far for the most part...Max Genius rocks the Destroid Tomahawk!). What pissed him off in particular was the "Minmay Attack" didn't use his own character work (he interpreted it was supposed to be Minmay shown in that attack, I just assumed the attack was named for her, given how many years later it was set).

Hm, okay, I stand corrected. Looking at the other character images from the video now, I can see they have his style to them, too.\

Thinking back more carefully, I believe his actual complaint was that the character design they used for the Minmay Attack was either not his or he meant they used it without telling him it was to be used for that purpose.

I extended that accidentally to include nearly all of the other characters, but that was my error (probably thinking too much about EVE in Megazone 23). I read this a long time ago and don't have a source anymore, so I could still have the details wrong.

Ahh, that makes more sense to me. They really did have a different character design for the holographic Minmay Attack scene in the beginning of the first episode, but I guess I always assumed that was meant to be some new character Minmay Attacking and not Minmay herself? Since it was 80 years later?

I am normally not a girly figure person at all, but the clean lines and super stylized look of the Tomorrow Queens really speak to me. Plus, they come with big guns and swords. Pictured in the middle is a new Square Mk2, with longer legs.

Lolli was the XXXMas special, sold earlier this month, and actually managed to arrive before Christmas as promised. These were made ahead of time and a limited number sold, instead of a preorder. They were hell to try and score, but worth it. She's got the new Ava (I think) body, as opposed to the first version body on the Vanilla TQ next to her. It's got more posable legs, redone ankles, more flexible and cleaner hips, and a more slender build throughout. It also has a silicone cover for the whole torso, so her boobs, butt, and er, front-butt are squishy, as opposed to the silicone bust area and hard lower body on the first version. That also means her belly is seamless, for those who are so inclined.

Vanilla was a 3AA exclusive white version of the Princess TQ that went up for preorder ages and ages ago. The regular version had a black dress and hair, but I thought the white was cooler. Her... uh... lady bits are actually pierced, which was a bit shocking.

Sanjeev Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do people actually find these "Tomorrow
> Queens"...attractive...in some way? Just asking...

Absolutely... to a worrying degree. While I do not actually find cartoon-ey stuff attractive, I do like the construct they suggest. I mean, the swoopy hair, crazy long legs, slinky suits, and those oversized gloves would make for a hot getup. On a real lady. If that happened. At the same time when dis-robing my new TQ for the first time to see how they did the piercing, I couldn't help but feel a bit odd. I've never really been impressed by the idea of hentai or of anime-style nudie figs, but I do think ThreeA's lady figs look good. Not erotic and masturbatory, but flashy and suggestive.